Monday, March 01, 2010

Did I say before that it is really "bobsleigh" NOT "bobsled". We say bobsled here... but that's not truly correct. I thought it was bobsled until the Olympics ... but turns out it's bobsleigh. Huh, who knew?

I couldn't get these videos to upload here...so you have to click on the link. but they're great! My friend Sylvia got a good video of the bobsleigh crash I was describing. At first she's just panning around and you get a really good view of the scenery, AND just how steep it is after the finish line. We're standing a ways past the finish line. But then you can see Ana and I looking over our shoulders and then people running towards the track. This video really doesn't look too bad...but it was scary!http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/4400545072/ It shows it pretty well. It looks a lot slower than it actually was.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Monday evening we went to Candahar, which is this art installation at Grandville Island. Here's what it's official description is "Irish artist Theo Sims’ The Candahar is a meticulously detailed recreation of an Irish public house, based on the interior of the now defunct Blackthorn Bar in Belfast. Part sculpture, part theatrical stage, The Candahar is an artwork that is also a functioning bar, open to the public and staffed, in collaboration with two Belfast bartenders who act as unscripted performers. The project fuses the authentic with fantasy, spectacle with stage, and at its heart acts as a catalyst for conversation, debate and dialogue — and a pint here or there."It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but it was fun nonetheless. The recreation part was only a very small area inside the larger theater. The rest were these rustic chairs and tables to sit at and live music. We all thought that the whole thing was going to be the bar recreation, not just one small area enclosed to a little room inside the larger area. It was kinda odd...but still very interesting. Had a couple beers there after wandering around downtown then went to Cafe Mumbai for dinner. Monday was our "relaxing" day.

Ana and I discovered we really do like curling. We went to women's curling Tuesday. Boy, those are rabid fans!!!! :) We learned a lot, and had a great time. We think we should get a curling venue in Bend so at the next Olympics the US men and women won't be in last place!! :) Hee hee. It might be the one discipline that the US will NOT NOT NOT be getting a medal. They're both 10th out of 10 countries. Oopsie. But yesterday they played a VERY good game against China, who are ranked third. So congrats to them. This is a picture of the US conferencing about what strategy they should use.

One of the funniest things was the women's restroom. The atrium attached to the curling venue was this big huge tent. There was a room sectioned off and inside all these porta-potties! It makes total sense... but it was funny.

After curling we went to the Vancouver Aquarium which was great too. It was one of the things Sonia really wanted to do, and I take any opportunity to go. It's a great Aquarium. I really didn't get too many good pictures, so I'll need to wait for Sonia and Rob's. But my favourite was this one of the bullfrogs. I knew they were big... but they were startlingly big after all the little tree frogs! :) They're so funny.

Ana, Rob and Sonia left today. With all the walking and hiking up and down the venues we've done, my legs need a rest. They've been seizing up a lot lately, and so it's been quite painful. Today my plan is to watch Olympics on TV, get all packed and just take it easy. Friday I go back up to Whistler for my last event, women's slalom and then Sat I head home! I've been having a great time here...but just over the last day or so I've really been missing my kitties... :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Phew! What a busy couple days! Saturday I took Sonia, Rob and Ana on a driving tour of Vancouver, which was quite fun. Then we went down to Grandville Island and ate dinner and took the Aquabus across the harbor to Hockey Place. It was Germany vs Belarus. Germany lost 3-5. Awwww too bad.

It was an exciting game. At one point the puck struck the plexi-glass so hard it cracked it. So they brought a ladder out and a new sheet and fixed it...right there in the game! :) Super fun.

But we didn't get home until about 1:30 am....and we needed to get up at 5:00 am to catch the bus! Wow, those couple hours were not enough!! :) But we made it. We took Sonia and Rob to their bus to get to Cypress to watch ski cross and then Ana, my friend Sylvia and I headed up to Whistler for a jam packed day.We started off at men's super combined which is one run of downhill and one run of slalom. It was really exciting. The course and where the finish line was, was in shade for a while and c-c-c-c-cold, but soon the sun peeked out and it got quite hot. We got some color in our cheeks, definitely. :) Here's Ana and Syl posing in the sun.

Bode Miller won. He really was great. Another great thing was that Croatia won the silver. The course designer was his dad! :) hee hee hee hee. There were these two crazy Croatia fans right behind us and I got a great picture of Ana with them. After that was over we headed over to Whistler Village and up to the sliding center for the 2-man bobsleigh. We were watching the forerunners coming down standing just past the finish line and all of a sudden when the sled was behind us on the loop before the final turn into the finish line area, emergency staff started running over with these grappling hooks. then suddenly in front of us roaring past us comes a sled on it's side. I was very impressed with the people there to help. They used the hooks to stop and turn over the sled to get the people inside out. It really was quite scary.

But after that, there was not one single crash. Thank god. Germany won gold and silver. It was very very exciting. Canada was....4th I think. Very fun. By the time we got home from that it was 10:00...so we slept in this morning. Hee hee.

Tomorrow Ana and I are off to curling in the morning and then hopefully we'll all go to the aquarium in the afternoon. Sun's still shinning.... :)

Friday, February 19, 2010

My friend Sarah from Bend arrived in Vancouver Wed, so I spent the afternoon showing her around my beautiful city. Wonderful gorgeous day. If you're in Vancouver one of my new favourite restaurants is Cafe Mumbai on W Broadway around MacDonald St. Super yummy Indian food. Took Jen there over Christmas on a recommendation from Sylvia....she always knows the best restaurants. It helps that her sister is a food inspector! Hee hee.

YesterdayI headed back up to Whistler for skeleton. It was heat 1 & 2 for the men and women. The women were supposed to start at 4:00 pm, but the start track had basically melted, so it was delayed until 4:30. They may be even crazier than the lugers!!!! It's luge, but head-first! Sheesh. I took lots of great pictures...but my mom borrowed my camera today so I can't download the pics yet.

As my dad and I were walking to the gondola to go to the sliding center we happened to catch the end of Christine Nesbitt's gold win in the 1,000 meter speed skating. They have these big screen tv's set up several places in Whistler and people are gathered around watching. It's super fun. Up at the sliding center in the break between the women and men's skeleton they showed the 3-2 shootout at the Canada- Switzerland hockey game.

It got so cold watching skeleton that dad and I only made it through the first run of the men. By the time I got back to Vancouver it was about 11:30. I finally warmed up on the drive back in the car with the heat blasting! :) It was great, again, to see all the flags and people out there cheering for their countrymen. People from all over the world.

Today Ana, Sonia and Rob arrive. Woohoo!! :) We have hockey tickets for tomorrow (Germany vs Belarus) and then Sunday Sonia and Rob are off to aerials and Ana and I go to Whistler for the rescheduled men's super combined and bobsleigh!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I was supposed to go to men's super combined today, but it's been postponed due to weather. I'm hoping that it'll be rescheduled for Thurs morning, since I have tickets for skeleton at 4:00 up at Whistler that day! That'd be great. Or Friday will work too. I suppose Sat would as well... It's been raining quite a bit here, but it's supposed to dry up today and be clear until early of next week. Keep your fingers crossed for that. But this is NOT unusual for a winter olympics .... people need to remember that!!!! :) Right now I see sunshine out my window, so I've got my fingers crossed that the weather continues to improve. There are, of course, people complaining, and people probably saying this is the worst Olympics ever...it's not.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Ok, I've got my Olympic spirit back! I didn't go to men's moguls where Canada got their first gold at home, but my brother did. Can't wait to hear from him how it was or see his pictures. I went to luge at Whistler. I was a bit hesitant about going, given what happened, but I'm so glad I did.

Those guys are INSANE!!!! It's sheer insanity. They're going 130-144 km/hour, which is about 100 miles/hour. It's crazy. Takes a bit to figure out how to watch it, and even longer to take a good pictures. After a couple mistakes, I got this great picture:

In my gallery you can see all my pictures from the day. The Canadian Sam Edney was in first place with five people to go, and ended up 7th, which is historical...top finish for a Canadian luger. It was awesome.

The Whistler Sliding Center is fabulous. On tv you don't get a true feel for how fast they are going. It really is amazing. And scary!! :)

Tomorrow I go see women's alpine skiing back up at Whistler and Thursday I see women's skeleton back at the Whistler Sliding Center.

Friday, February 12, 2010

I forgot, I did upload my pictures from yesterday. Seeing the torch go by was SOOOOOO exciting!!!! There were hundreds and hundreds of people there. I waited for about 40 minutes, and then right before it came a bunch more people came and I could barely see! :) Hee hee. I uploaded the pics here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157623419856960/

It was a tough day today. The news about NadorKumaritashvili's death was really tough. My mom who is volunteering at Whistler says people up there are in shock and are hurting. But his team decided to stay and honor his memory. The opening ceremonies is dedicated to him, and the athletes were tasked with competing with his spirit in their minds. I have tickets to luge on Sunday....it's lost it's luster for me. I'll definitely go if it's on though! Those athletes deserve an audience. If you haven't seen the video of the accident, DON'T WATCH IT! I wish I hadn't seen it. It's horrible. I watched it before they knew he was dead. I really wish I hadn't.

Also today, protesters made the torch relay detour from it's route right when it was approaching the vet memorial in Vancouver! Those poor vets were moved to tears. They wanted the flame to come to honor their fallen friends and "some brats" as one soldier called them, forced the route to change. I have no problem with protests...but that was a heartless choice of spots.

So all in all...a tough day and start to the games. I'm trying to find my Olympic spirit again.... I'm sure it'll come once I'm out at an event. I hope. I'll upload pics as soon as I have them.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

I went to the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremonies tonight. It was fabulous!!!! I have no intention of telling you what happened, but you should definitely tune in on Friday. The excitement there and in the city overall is just AMAZING!!!! :)

Yesterday my drive up was fine. Left Bend at about 2:00 and got here at about 10:45. The border crossing, which I thought might be bad, only took 5 minutes. Awesome! As I was driving up to the border there was a line of 13 charter buses in front of my. I gunned it to get by them. Heehee.

Tomorrow I plan to go watch the Olympic Torch Relay which will be passing close to my parent's house. I'm trying to figure out if I can get down to watch it go across the bay in a dragon boat too. GO CANADA!!!!

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Hey look, it's been over a year since I last updated!!!!!! :) Oopsie. Oh well. I'm off the Vancouver for the Olympics today. I'll be using this to keep everyone updated and share pictures and my experiences. I'm SOOOOOO excited!!!!!

I'm actually going to be able to see a lot of things: luge, skeleton (like luge, but headfirst!), bobsleigh, men's downhill, women's slalom, ice hockey (Germany vs Belarus) and curling. I know people laugh at curling... but I think it's going to be a lot more fun that something like xc skiing! But that's just my opinion.

About Me

I'm just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. Well ok, that's not entirely true. I'm a transplanted Canadian living and working in the US. I never know what I am first? Canadian? A librarian? A Leo? I'm all those things and so much more... :)

Some of the books from my library...

"MAY WE HAVE EYES TO SEE THOSE WHO ARE RENDERED INVISIBLE AND EXCLUDED, OPEN ARMS AND HEARTS TO REACH OUT AND INCLUDE THEM, HEALING HANDS TO TOUCH THEIR LIVES WITH LOVE, AND IN THE PROCESS HEAL OURSELVES." ~ Dr. Jack McConnell